Winemaker Notes
Pair with red meat, feathered game, lamb in pastry.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Focused, with a tight beam of raspberry coulis and warm plum compote flavors, flecked with savory and white pepper hints. A chalky spine harnesses everything on the finish. Very solid.
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Wine & Spirits
A cuvée from the land Delas Frères purchased in 2006, on the benchlands of the Rhône river, this is lush in both chocolate-cherry fruit and in coffee-scented oak. It needs a swirl in a decanter to show the wealth of flavor behind the makeup: grilled porcini and fresh-milled black peppercorns, licorice root and fresh earth.
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James Suckling
Plush dark berries and plum fruit aromas with chocolate, pepper, roasting herbs and wet dark stones. The palate has a bright, fleshy and soft powdery tannin texture. Great balance here.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There are three Crozes Hermitage releases in 2015, all of which are noteworthy. The 2015 Crozes Hermitage Domaine des Grands Chemins is an impressive, fresh, lively effort that's loaded with notions of plums, blueberries, crushed rocks and graphite. Medium to full-bodied, fresh and nicely textured/focused, it should drink beautifully right out of the gate and keep for 5-7 years.
Range:88-90
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Crozes-Hermitage is Northern Rhone’s largest appellation, surrounding the steep granite faces of Hermitage to its north and south. Here the rolling vineyards are less extreme and its soils, rich in clay-limestone and alluvial matter, produce Syrahs that range from fruity and charming to lush and seductive. The Syrahs of Crozes-Hermitage have more mass than those from St. Joseph but are less intense than those from Hermitage. While many are intended for early consumption, some of the best Syrahs from Crozes-Hermitage will age beautifully for 5-10 years.
Up to 15% of white grapes may theoretically be added to red Crozes at the time of fermentation but whether this is done or not depends on the decision of the winemaker. The best Crozes-Hermitage Syrahs will be fleshy with black fruit (currant, blackberry and black cherry) and bay leaf qualities, notes of tar and stone, and a well-concentrated finish of smooth tannins.
About a tenth of the wine produced in Crozes-Hermitage is white, primarily composed of Marsanne supplemented by smaller amounts of Roussanne.